WATER ABSTRACTION FOR CIVIL USE

Update date
Authors

Giovanni Braca

The indicator refers to 2022 and is drawn up on the basis of Istat data relating to the last “Nable Review for Civil Use” carried out in 2023 and published in 2024. The information is provided on a national, regional and by hydrographic district, divided in turn into removal from the surface and underground body water. The levy values are compared with those detected in the previous "Nail census for civil use" of 2020. Also in 2022, compared to the previous 2020 census, the water withdrawal for civil use in Italy has decreased slightly.

Description

The indicator provides a measure of the pressure on surface and underground water bodies exerted by the collection of the water resource for civil use. The withdrawal of the water resource should not be confused with the amount used or delivered since it is inclusive of the dispersions or losses that occur in the adduction and distribution works much more accentuated in the civil sector. The “civilian” Istat category is identified with the “potable” category of the legislation for the request for a concession of derivation (RD 1775/33). The Census of the waters for civil use collects information from the bodies operators of water services for civil use on the entire water cycle; it is also included in the National Statistical Programme (IST – 02192), which includes all the statistical surveys of interest for the entire national community.
Purpose

Analyze the quantities taken from surface and underground water bodies to get a picture of the exploitation of water resources; analyze the percentages of regional withdrawals on the national total to highlight which regions take more amounts of water resources; analyze the rate of water from surface water bodies and that from underground water bodies, in order to verify which source is most exploited and in which region.
Policy relevance and utility for users
It is of national scope or applicable to environmental issues at the regional level but of national significance.
It is able to describe the trend without necessarily providing an evaluation of it.
It is simple and easy to interpret.
It is sensitive to changes occurring in the environment and/or human activities
It provides a representative overview of environmental conditions, environmental pressures, and societal responses.
It provides a basis for international comparisons
Analytical soundness
Be based on international standards and international consensus about its validity;
Be theoretically well founded in technical and scientific terms
Presents reliability and validity of measurement and data collection methods
Temporal comparability
Spatial comparability
Measurability (data)
Adequately documented and of known quality
Updated at regular intervals in accordance with reliable procedures
Readily available or made available at a reasonable cost/benefit ratio
An “adequate” spatial coverage
Main regulatory references and objectives

The levy must be of such an extent that the principle of “non-deterioration” is respected for the body of water concerned or the achievement of the environmental objectives set out in Directive 2000/60/EC is guaranteed: “good ecological and chemical status” for surface water bodies and “good chemical status” for underground water bodies.
DPSIR
Pressure
Indicator type
Descriptive (A)
References

Istat 2014 - ANNO 2012 REPORT CENSIMENTO DELLE ACQUE PER USO CIVILE https://www.istat.it/it/files//2014/06/2014_06_26_Report_censimento_acqua.pdf

Istat 2017 - FOCUS GIORNATA MONDIALE DELL’ACQUA 2017 https://www.istat.it/it/files//2017/03/Focus_acque.pdf 

Istat 2017 - ANNO 2015 REPORT CENSIMENTO DELLE ACQUE PER USO CIVILE https://www.istat.it/it/files//2017/12/Report-Censimento-acque.pdf

Istat 2018 - FOCUS GIORNATA MONDIALE DELL’ACQUA 2018 https://www.istat.it/it/files//2018/03/Focus-acque-2018.pdf

Istat 2020 - LE STATISTICHE DELL’ISTAT SULL’ACQUA | ANNI 2018-2019 https://www.istat.it/it/files//2020/03/Le-statistiche-Istat-sull%E2%80%99acqua.pdf

Istat 2024 - LE STATISTICHE DELL’ISTAT SULL’ACQUA | ANNI 2020-2023, https://www.istat.it/it/files/2024/03/Report-GMA-Anno-2024.pdf
Limitations

The quantification of the volumes taken from the environment carried out by the managing bodies can also be carried out by estimates, because it is not always possible to have direct measurements.
Data source

ISTAT 
Data collection frequency
Two year
Data availabilty

https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/279363

https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/295148
Spatial coverage

National, Regional
Time coverage

2012, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2022
Core SET
SDGs Indicators
SDG goals
Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation
Processing methodology

Sum of regional withdrawals. Comparison of annual data by type of source of withdrawal. Relationship with respect to the population.
Update frequency
Two-year
Data quality

The data used for the definition of the indicator have quality characteristics being collected and processed by the main national surveying institution. Since 2018 they have been detected through a biennial census, while previously it was three years and published at regular intervals after verification procedures. The availability of the data is easy being entrusted to the publication on the web in thematic pages whose achievement is intuitive (see “Accessibility of basic data”). The series of collection data for civil use systematically collected starts from 2012 so that the time coverage can not yet be considered suitable to define robust trends. The indicator provides information on the national spatial scale and thus offers a national level picture. The indicator has characteristics of comparability in time and space that make easy comparisons between regions and river banks. In addition, it is sensitive to changes that occur in the environment also as a result of anthropogenic activities. Comparisons can be made easily with previous surveys.

Status
Undefinable
Trend
Positive
State assessment/description

Although the state is not definable, the reduction of the levy has a beneficial effect on the environment by reducing pressure on water bodies.
Trend assessment/description

Compared to the previous survey of 2020, the withdrawal for total civil use in Italy in 2022 decreased by 0.5% (Figure 3).
Comments

The national value of the daily withdrawal of water for average annual civil use per inhabitant is about 424 L/inhabitant/day, with the maximum value reached in Molise with 2,160 L/abitant/day and the minimum value in Puglia with only 110 L/inhabitant/day (Figure 1). The supply is also for 2022 mainly from groundwater (84.7%) and in some regions such as the Valle d’Aosta and Umbria the water supply of water for civil use derives entirely from them (Figure 2). A very small percentage is also derived from the desalination of seawater (0.1%), in the regions of Sicily and Tuscany alone. In 2022 the water levy for civil use in Italy was reduced by 0.5% compared to the previous census, and is equal to about 9.14 billion cubic meters (Figure 3). The values of the daily per capita levy, it is good to specify, do not take into account water transfers between regions, so not all water taken in a region is delivered and used in the same region.
Data
Data
Headline

Figure 1: Water withdrawal for civilian use per capita (2022)

Data source

ISPRA processing on ISTAT data (Census of water for civil use - 2022)
Headline

Figure 2: Withdrawal for civil use by source of supply (2022)

Data source

ISPRA processing on ISTAT data (Census of water for civil use - 2022)
Headline

Figure 3: Percentage variation of water withdrawal for civil use in 2022 compared to 2020

Data source

ISPRA processing on ISTAT data (Census of water for civil use - 2022)